World Cup: Russia cries foul over Nigerian fans’ chicken requests

Nigerian fans cheering on their national team in Saturday’s World Cup match against Croatia will be missing an important item in their supporter’s toolkit: chickens. Live chickens are sometimes seen at soccer matches in Nigeria where fans paint them in the green and white colours of their national flag before holding them aloft and leading crowd chanting.

But officials in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, where Nigeria will take on Croatia on Saturday in their first outing at the World Cup, have said animals will not be allowed in the stadium. Andrei Yermak, Kaliningrad’s minister for culture and tourism, said that whilst there had been no official requests to do so, some Nigerian fans had asked if it would be possible to bring chickens to the match.

“It was explained to the fans that according to safety regulations, it is not permitted to enter the stadium with live animals,” he said in written comments to Reuters on Friday. Nigeria’s soccer federation and the Nigerian embassy in Moscow were not immediately available for comment.

Russia’s Interfax news agency had earlier quoted Yermak as saying local authorities would still help Nigerian fans get the most out of the tournament.“We will of course advise them where to buy a chicken,” Interfax cited him as saying. “We are ready to meet the most eccentric requests.” Reuters

Related

Related Articles

Ahmed Musa’s move from Leicester City to Al-Nassr FC appears to have gone down well with the club’s fans, who gave the Nigeria international an outrageous reaction upon his arrival in Saudi Arabia. In a video shared on his @AhmedMusa718 Twitter handle, the former CSKA Moscow forward is seem being mobbed by delirious fans upon […]

Arsenal midfielder Alex Iwobi has played down injury fears and is hopeful he can regain full fitness for Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second-leg against Atletico Madrid. The 21-year-old Nigeria international played 90 minutes during Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat at Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday but Wenger said after the match Iwobi was struggling […]

Nigeria secured a place at the 2019 African Nations Cup finals with a deserved 1-1 draw with hosts South Africa in their Group E qualifier at Soccer City on Saturday. Buhle Mkhwanazi put the ball into his own net to give Nigeria the lead after nine minutes, but South Africa equalised through their Strasbourg forward […]